Technological Determinism of Marshall McLuhan
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Transcript Technological Determinism of Marshall McLuhan
Technological Determinism
of
Marshall McLuhan
From Chapter 26 in Em Griffin,
A First Look at Communication Theory,
1994
QUESTION
MCLUHAN WAS EARLY TO
RECOGNIZE THAT WE WERE
ENTERING THE AGE OF PRINT;
A = TRUE
B = FALSE
QUESTION
MCLUHAN WOULD SAY:
A = Inventions in communication technology
cause cultural change;
B = The age of print had its obituary tapped out
by the telegraph;
C = The electronic media are retribalizing the
human race;
D = Instant communication has returned us to a
prealphabetic oral tradition;
E = ALL OF THE ABOVE
McLuhan was early to recognize that:
We were entering the
Electronic Age
Electronic Media
radically alter the way
people
– think
– feel
– act
Historical
Epoch
Tribal
Age
Literate
Age
Print
Age
Electronic
Age
Technological
Development
Phonetic alphabet
2000 B.C.
Printing
Press
1450
Telegraph
1850
Dominant Sense
Receptors
According to McLuhan, the
crucial inventions were:
The phonetic alphabet
The printing press
The telegraph
WHY THESE 3 PARTICULAR
INVENTIONS?
Core Concepts
Inventions in communication technology cause cultural
change
Changes in modes of communication shape human life
Channels of communication are the primary cause of
cultural change
“We shape our tools and they in turn shape us”
Each new media innovation is an extension of
some human faculty
The book is an extension of the eye
The wheel is an extension of the foot
Clothing is an extension of the skin
Electronic circuitry is an extension of the
central nervous system
Media are anything that amplify or intensify a bodily
organ, sense, or function
Media (NOT ONLY)
extend our reach
increase our efficiency
Media (ALSO)
act as a filter
to organize
and interpret our social existence
The way we live is largely a function of the way we
process information
The phonetic alphabet, the printing press, and the
telegraph changed the way people thought about
themselves and their world
“The medium is the message”
The same words spoken face-to-face, printed on paper,
or presented on television provide three different
messages
McLuhan Web Site
McLuhan Web Site
The primary channel of communication changes the
way we perceive the world
The dominant medium of any age dominates people
A Media Analysis of History
The Tribal Age
an acoustic place
where the senses of hearing, touch, taste, & smell
were most developed
“Primitive” people led richer and more complex lives
than their literate descendants because the ear, unlike the
eye, is unable to select the stimuli it takes in
The spoken word is more emotionally laden than the
written
The Age of Literacy
The phonetic alphabet put sight at the head of the
hierarchy of senses: with reading people exchanged an ear
for an eye
Literacy (reading) jarred people out of collective tribal
involvement into “civilized” private detachment
The phonetic alphabet established the line as the
organizing principle
The Print Age
If the phonetic alphabet made visual dependence
possible, the printing press made it widespread
Repeatability is the most important characteristic
of movable type
The print revolution demonstrated mass
production of identical products--it was the
forerunner of the industrial revolution
It created the book that people could read in
privacy and in isolation
The printed book glorifies individualism
The Electronic Age: The Global Village
“The age of print had its obituary tapped out by
the telegraph”
The electronic media are retribalizing the human
race
Instant communication has returned us to a
prealphabetic oral tradition
where sound and touch are more important
than sight
All of us as members of a global village
Hot & Cool Media
Hot media are beamed at a single sense receptor
Print is a hot, visual medium
Photographs are a hot, visual medium
Motion Pictures are a hot, visual medium
They package lots of information in a way that
requires little work on the part of the viewer
Cool Media
Cool media require high participation to fill in the
blanks
A lecture is hot
Discussions are cool
McLuhan-esque Examples
Education
People living in the midst of innovation often
cling to what was, as opposed to what is
Education is a prime example of a battle ground
over forms of literacy--video as an audio/video aid
as opposed to the primary tool
The acoustic media are a threat to an educational
establishment that has a vested interest in books